I am so lucky and I feel so proud of being a Centennial College student. This summer, I was selected to learn different language and culture in another Country- Spain by Summer International Programs. Fortunately, it is second time to be selected. Life is a continuous journey. Some journeys are short and some long. Some journeys are unforgettable to be erased by the sands of time. The journey of Spain I had was one memorable experience.
I was arranged living with a local family called a homestay. We lived along with each other, just like a real family even we were not able to communicate too much by language barrier in the beginning. My homestay mother is an elegant and knowledgeable lady whose name is Elizabeth. She has passion to teach everything to me and my classmates Faye, Jessie and Minyung whenever we need her. She invited us to go to the concerts for many times. She introduced about history, food, culture and music of Oviedo to us. After 20 days, we were able to talk to each other in Spanish. Can you image we just stay there for 20 days? Ali is another wise lady I want to mention. Ali is a coordinator of University of Oviedo, she can speak many languages including Spanish, English, Chinese and some French. We were used to meet up in order to improve our languages. Also, Ali helped us a lot. I think there is no better way to learn a new language and culture.
The reason why I applied SIPs is that my program is Practical Nursing. Once, I had a trouble in communicating with a client who only can speak Farsi in my placement. I had to spend a lot of time to figure out what she needed every time. Sometimes, knowing one more language can save life. After that, I realized that how important of good communication skills were for people, especially, for a nurse. In this case, I think SIPs is a great opportunity for me to learn another language and culture in order to care clients easily and effectively. Meanwhile, it is a chance to widen my eyes which is beneficial for my future career. It is not only to enhance my global awareness but also to help clients who are Spanish speakers. It will be greatly improved in the programs, which are relevant to my major.
In the end, as a Centennial College student who is studying PN, I am proud of myself. Also, I strongly recommend all students to applied SIPs, you will definitely benefit from SIPs .It will light your future and color you experience.
– Meiling Miao (300801439) Practical Nurseing
THE GLOBAL EXPERIENCE BLOG 